


Precious Gem

by Phantoms_Echo



Series: FullMetal Gem 'Verse [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: A bit insanity though?, Alternate Universe - Crystal Gems (Steven Universe), Author uses too many tags, Can still be read as such, Edward is not a delicate flower, Fantasy, Gem Corruption, M/M, Magic, No Character Death, No Smut, No longer Oneshot, Roy is a Rebel, So not cannon, i think..., maybe just a little, maybe? - Freeform, no matter what people say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:53:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7853281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantoms_Echo/pseuds/Phantoms_Echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward and Alphonse were Ambers. They were never meant to participate in the Gem Wars. However, when Alphonse is sent off to the front lines, Edward must find his way there to bring his brother home.</p>
<p>Or what's left of him anyway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>*Based on Steven Universe... universe, but is not a cross-over. It's not cannon for either series and no specific characters from Steven Universe will be used.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Precious Gem

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters and I do not make money off of this. I only create fantasies.
> 
> This was an idea I had sitting in my head for a while. I do have a second chapter planned when I have more time to write, but for now, please enjoy this little oneshot.

Edward knew he was nothing special. The golden brown gem lodged in his left hip was proof enough. It wasn't a rare Yellow Sapphire or the bright Tourmaline from Malawi system. He wasn't even a common citrine!

No, he was an amber -a gem not even made from the cores of planets. He was no better than Pearls or Corals. 

Ambers were made from the tree sap of plants and were barely considered gems. Their make-up was shaky at best. They were  _literally_  the weakest stone on the Mohs scale and the Diamonds made sure everyone knew.

His gem had hardened and formed thousands of years before he ever emerged. It had lain in the depths of a planet called Earth along with his brother's stone. They were taken out just before the rebellion had started.

Alphonse's stone had a fossilized insect in it, a bee from the reports he and Ed had read. Apparently, that meant that Alphonse would be a better warrior than Edward, since his own rock had trapped prey long before he emerged.

Ed's had a silly looking leaf with three leaflets. 

Edward hated being held back. If Alphonse could do it, so could Ed! But the Diamonds wouldn't let him. Instead, he was locked away in the research labs with Peridots and Iolites where he poured himself into research and technological advancements. If he couldn't be on the front lines with his brother, then he'd make sure that his brother got the best weaponry possible to keep him whole.

Then news came that the rebellion had ended in a cease-fire.

Ed was excited, that meant that Al was no longer needed on the front lines. Ships were coming in by the day with more and more soldiers. There were less than half left after the battles on Earth, but Ed didn't care. As long as he finally had Al back with him, it didn't matter.

But days went by –weeks, months,  _years_  –and Al never showed.

"That's the last ship!" One of the Bismuth's called from the loading dock below where Ed sat. The Amber frowned.

"What do you mean 'that's the last ship'?" Ed called, hopping down from his perch. It sent a twinge of pain up his leg, but he brushed it off. It would take more than that to destabilize him.

The Bismuth turned to look at him, recognition in her eyes. "You're the Amber that's been hanging around. Why aren't you at your post?"

"I have scheduled breaks." Ed said through gritted teeth. "What do you mean that was the last ship? Alphonse hasn't come back yet!"

The Bismuth looked startled, then sad, "Kid, if a gem hasn't come back... they aren't going to."

Ed felt the pain right down to his gemstone. "No... Al was supposed to come back!  _He was supposed to be back_!"

"I'm sorry." the gem said as she turned away. "If you want to blame someone, blame that Obsidian that started the rebellion."

"Obsidian?" Ed echoed, feeling like his form had destabilized.

"Colonel Roy Mustang, Leader of the Earthen Obsidian brigade." The Bismuth answered. "Apparently, he decided he didn't want to follow the Diamonds anymore. He had dreams of grandeur that went too far. He  _shattered_  Pink Diamond in order to chase after his dreams. He's the reason Alphonse was sent out and the reason he never returned."

Ed's mouth opened, as if to speak or  _scream_ , but no sound came out. He bowed his head, tears coming to his eyes as he came to terms with the fact that Alphonse was gone.

He gritted his teeth. 

Roy Mustang would pay for taking his brother from him. 

*             *             *             *             *

It was stupidly easy to get a ship. Ed just had to spit off some shit about an unusual space cluster in Sector Nine and he was sent off with a ship and some muscle. Maes Hughes, a Lapis Lazuli, was sent as his guard.

The man was bright and cheerful, something less seen since the rebellion. Apparently, his love, Gracia, an emerald, was one of the first gems that had gone to earth. She hadn't been heard from again, but there weren't any Emerald shards recovered. Ed wondered if she had been a turn-coat as well.

"And that's why I think gems should be given the option to eat cake whenever they want!" Maes said with an air of finality. He had been arguing the case for actual 'food' for gems even though they're bodies didn't need to metabolize it in order to live. Ed had ended up tuning him out half-way through.

With the autopilot set for Sector Nine, Ed pulled away from the controls and headed towards the back of the ship. "I'm going to take some readings. Watch the ship and make sure we stay the course."

"Aye, Aye, captain!" the Lapis said, grating on Ed's nerves. Like Ed would ever be a Captain. No Amber would be put in such a high position, not with how 'frail' they were.

Making his way to the back with his equipment, Ed looked over his shoulder to make sure the Lapis was amply distracted before silently summoning his weapon. His lance was thin and unadorned unlike most weapons. The tip was sharp, like a knife and had the slightest oily sheen to it. Ed attributed the sheen to his stone's origin, but he didn't think it would cause a problem.

Ed felt his gem tingle.

He had never fought before and now he was going to attack his own guard.

Ed knew he just had to poof the Lapis and then bubble its gem to keep it from reforming for the rest of the trip. Once he completed his mission, he could release it when he got back to this spot and make it seem as if nothing happened. If he didn't complete his mission... well, he'd make sure to send the Lapis home before his gem gave out.

Nodding to himself, Ed hefted his lance and pressed himself against the wall. There was no door separating his research room from the bridge and helm, only an entry way. He just had to be quiet and-!

_Thunk_

A midnight blue knife lodged itself into the wall beside his head.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Maes turned from the hologram screens to smile brightly at the Amber. "Edward."

Edward felt his stomach tremble, but he knew it was too late to turn back. He would already be label unstable for attacking a commanding officer. If they returned, he would never be allowed to set foot out of the labs again. If he wanted to make it to Earth, this was his only chance.

Darting forward, he tried to remember the moves he had seen in the training halls. He'd never fought, but he had spent hours watching gems fight each other and his memory was second to none.

Lance out to the side, he came in with a quick under-kick, catching the Lapis by surprise. Gems with spears or lances generally kept to long-distance fighting. Ed knew the switch up would catch him off guard and since he'd already thrown his weapon, Ed had the advantage.

Just as he predicted, the Lapis sprung up, watery wings fluttering out to keep him lofted as Ed swung the lance up and around. The tip just barely missed the Lapis as the gem did a backwards tuck and roll. He was still far away from his weapon, so Ed didn't think anything of it -right up until a searing pain dug itself into his right shoulder.

Crying out, Ed fell to his knees, feeling his form tremble under the damage. It would hold up, but another blow would destabilize him for sure.

The pain in his shoulder came from a dark, stout knife, the exact same that was still embedded in the wall by the research corridor. 

"How?" He gasped.

"Throwing knives usually requires having more than one knife to throw." Maes said with a smile as he dropped to stand in front of Ed, foot on his lance to keep the weapon down. "You should really do some more research before you start a fight."

"Research is  _all I've done_!" Ed snarled as he pushed himself to his feet –or attempted to at least. Another hot stab of pain pierced his gut, making him choke and fall backwards onto the floor, driving the other knife deeper. Fiery golden eyes glared up at Maes as despair filled the Amber right down to his gem.

"Sorry, Edward." Maes smiled, looking actually sad and regretful that he had to put Ed down. "But I can't have you turning us back around."

_Wait... what?_  The buzzing of Ed's body destabilizing must have garbled Maes' words, because Ed could have  _sworn_ -!

"I've laid low for the past century." Maes said as he stooped down to look Ed in the eyes. The man gently pushed his blonde bangs out of his eyes like a... not a lover, but someone close and familiar which the two were definitely  _not_. "Now that this rebellion is over, I'm going home. I'm sorry that I had to do this, but I probably won't get another chance in millenia and I... I can't live without Gracia."

Maes was... he was really doing this? He was stealing the ship that Ed was going to steal? Gracia was on Earth, wasn't she? Maes was going to...?

"I'll make sure to keep your gem safe and send you back to Home World as soon as I can." Maes said gently. "Tell them that I overpowered you. That should keep you from being broken."

No...

Ed couldn't go back there. He couldn't orchestrate another voyage like this. Home World would turn into a state of chaos as deserters and spies were weeded out. Ed needed to go to Earth  _now_.

His tongue felt heavy in his mouth as he tried to speak. "The... the log...!"

"Edward?" Maes cocked his head to the side, obviously surprised that Ed could still speak.

"The... log..." the log that Edward had planned his trip in. The coordinates, the timeframe, the patrol routes to avoid. It would get Maes there and, hopefully, make him take Ed with him. If he saw all the effort Ed put into it, surely he wouldn't leave the Amber behind, right?

Right?

Ed didn't get to find out because with his next breath, his body destabilized and turned to dust.

*             *             *             *             *

Edward could tell the moment he was bubbled. 

He had destabilized a few times and could remember the feeling of just his gem and himself, twining together and regenerating in their own time. However, this time was different.

As soon as his form disappeared, Ed could feel the pressure of another gem. His 'vision' flicked with midnight blue and his 'ears' could pick up sounds that may have been speech, but it was muffled. The pressure around him was strong, pushing back his urge to reform and making his mind slow into a daze. He wondered, idly, if he would ever be released.

Just as he was thinking this, the bubble popped and the pressure eased.

"Just stay back, give him room," he heard, but Ed just gave a mental sigh. He couldn't tell how long he'd been in the bubble, but it wasn't long enough for his gem. It had just started to close the wounds in his form. There was no way Ed was going to speed up the process, not when he had to be at the top of his game to face Roy Mustang.

When Ed challenged him to a duel, he didn't want any handicaps.

Instead, he kept silent and replayed the thousands of sparring sessions he had seen. He picked out the ones with spears and lances, trying to develop his own style by watching the way others moved. The gems that won were fluid, graceful. They were quick to dodge, but when it came time to hit, they packed a powerful punch. Not too powerful though. He couldn't afford to bulk up on muscle and slow himself down. 

So his new form had to be strong, but sleek. He could probably get an upper hand if he stayed closer to the ground, but Ed wasn't sure he wanted to sacrifice a lot of height for an advantage like that. Besides, he didn't know what Roy Mustang looked like. It was possible that the gem was already shorter than Ed and being the same height would leave the Amber at a disadvantage with his lower skill level. 

So, height was out of the question. Ed would just have to focus on tailoring his form instead.

"It's been a long time," a voice said, "Are you sure he's still in there?"

"I avoided hitting his gem, so he should be," Another voice, Maes answered, "Ambers take a long time to regenerate and even then, their forms are typically very unstable. Some research has been done and many gems believe that it's due to the impurities in their gemstones."

"Impurities... do you mean corruption?" The tone was cautious with an edge of tension.

"No," Maes said, "The impurities are old insects, plants, _lives_ , that get trapped in them. This is something they were made with, that makes them  _Ambers_."

It was quiet for a while.

"Do you think he could be the key to helping the ones lost to us?"

"I don't know Roy. I really don't know."

Did Maes just say Roy? As in Roy Mustang? Leader of the rebellion?

The one that shattered Alphonse?

Before Ed knew what he was doing, his form exploded out of his gem in a whirl of limbs and chaos. It must have stunned the two speaking because when Ed opened his eyes, they were just standing there, staring at him. They were shorter than him, something Ed contributed to the desk his gem had been laying on. 

Maes was easily recognizable, even after his change from diamond patterned uniform to (what the hell?) stars. The other gem, though, Ed didn't recognize. The man was slightly shorter than Maes, with dark hair and dark eyes the color of the vast voids of space. His uniform was of a high ranking officer, but in place of the diamond, it, too, had stars. 

That had to be Roy Mustang.

The two gems were still in shock over his sudden regeneration and Ed pressed his advantage. His lance slid easily into his hand as he leapt from the desk. Time slowed as he aimed and – _is an extension of your arm, keep it close then_  –thrust it at the rebellion leader.

It was time Roy Mustang paid for what he did to Al.

Just as it had slowed down, time sped up. Roy caught his lance by the neck, hand smoldering against its golden finish. His other hand came up, pressing firmly against Ed's chest before shoving him bodily into the wall. The rock crumbled around him, but his form held on. 

Wrenching himself from the damaged wall, Ed snarled and tightened his grip on... where did his lance go?

"Looking for this?" Roy called, his voice as smooth as the sands of Silk Beach on Home World. Ed looked up and did a double-take. His lance was balanced carefully in front of Roy Mustang, the head in the air and the end butted into the ground. Ed gritted his teeth.

"Careful, Roy." Maes hissed, volume low, "He just reformed. You know how delicate Ambers are!"

"Strange..." Roy whispered back, "He doesn't look very delicate to me."

Ed blinked at that and gave in to the urge to check out his new form. Before, he had been short and skinny, something that was good enough for research, not battle. This form, however, was tough with lithe muscles and broad shoulders. His uniform, which had always been more brown than gold, had tinges of red mixed in. Even his height had increased a little!

Overall, Ed would say he looked very intimidating for an Amber. 

Taking stock of his form, however, cost him greatly. In the time it took him to register the changes he'd made, Roy was across the room and holding him down by the neck. The lack of air was more annoying than threatening, but Ed didn't like how it kept him vulnerable to the Obsidian. Instead, he fought back, kicking and scratching in an effort to free himself.

"Hey, knock it off." Roy said, face a mixture of frustration and annoyance. "Tell us why you came here."

"Isn't it obvious?" Ed growled through gritted teeth. He tried another kick that ended with his leg being trapped by Mustang's free hand. His lance had found its way into Maes' hold and was entirely too far away to be of  _any_  help. 

"You came to shatter me." Roy answered his own question. "Why? Home World ordered a ceasefire after the last great battle. Did the Diamonds send you? Are they going back on their word?"

"Hah!" Ed barked, a rueful grimace on his face. "Like the Diamonds would ever send an Amber for something like this."

Roy's expression darkened, "They did once."

Ed paused in his struggles, confused, "What?"

"There was another Amber." Roy said, sliding forward in Ed's confusion and pressing himself between the Amber’s legs, against the length of the gem's body. Ed felt his face heat unnecessarily. "I saw him on the battle field. He looked so lost and confused. He looked like he could barely hurt a Pearl, much less a Jasper or Amethyst."

"Al..." Ed breathed, feeling the shock down to his gem. 

"So you know him." Roy raised an eyebrow as his hand crept up from Ed's ankle to his hip –right over his gem. Ed choked out a gasp and the Obsidian loosened his grip.

"You will tell me what you know." Roy said, his thumb pressing against Ed's gem and – _force equals mass times acceleration, hardness of amber is 2 to 2.5 depending on the gem and growing conditions and density is 1.05 to 1.09 so the force needed to break it is_ –stroking in a very threatening way.

Ed dug his fingers into the Obsidian's wrist. "Or what? You'll break me?"

The thumb on his gem paused and those dark eyes on him hardened before the rebellion leader spoke. "There are other ways of getting information, Little Amber." Before Ed could sputter at being called  _little_ , the gem continued, "Interogation, torture..." The Obsidian's gaze hooded, " _fusion..._ "

Ed's breath caught as he realized just how close they were. The Amber was trapped against the wall, one foot on tip-toe, the other pressed flat against solid rock as the Obsidian pressed in between his legs. The rebellion leader's hand was still clenched around his hip, thumb stroking his gem in a way that sent strange tingles to the blonde’s stomach.

"G-Get off me!" Ed hissed as those tingles made it up to his cheeks.

"Tell us why you came." Roy Mustang ordered again.

"I came to  _shatter_  you!" Ed snarled as he dug his fingers into the Obsidian's wrist and tried to kick out with his other leg. The rebel leader was pressed too closely though, Ed couldn't get a good hit in. "You broke Alphonse! He was supposed to be on the last ship, but he _wasn't_! It's your fault! You're going to  _pay_!"

"The other Amber?" Roy frowned, drawing back the slightest bit, but not enough for Ed to wedge he foot between them. "The other Amber wasn't broken."

Ed froze, frowning. "What?"

Roy's face darkened, not in anger but in sadness. "He didn't shatter... but he may as well have."

"How can you say that?!" Ed hissed as Roy's grip on his neck loosened further. Just a little more and he could-!

"Have you ever heard of corruption?" Roy Mustang asked.

"What?" Ed had a brief moment of deja vu. 

"Gem corruption." The Obsidian restated. "It's where the gem can't hold its form and becomes... well..."

"They destabilize?" Ed asked, the curious, scientific part of his brain slowly growing stronger. What can he say? He's a research gem at heart.

"That's one way of looking at it." Roy said as he dropped Edward to his feet. "Maes said you were a research gem."

"What of it?" Ed growled, trying to keep up in the change in subject.

"Come with me." Roy ordered, turning his back and walking swiftly out the room. The Obsidian's back was wide open. Ed really wouldn't have a better advantage than-!

"Come on, Ed." Maes poked him in the back to get him moving. Ed scowled at the Lapis and lunged for his lance, but the gem was too quick and was hovering over his head before the Amber knew what happened. Maes grinned down at him. "Not gonna tell you twice."

Scowl deepening, Ed turned on his heel and followed the Obsidian through the dark rock tunnels. Even if Ed didn't need air to breathe, he did need light to see. Up ahead, there was a faint glow that Ed headed towards. The closer he got, he more he could make out Roy Mustang. The Obsidian must have grabbed a light orb or something while Ed was distracted.

"Where are we going?" The Amber asked as he was hemmed in between two gems.

"Gem corruption appears to be something new." Roy answered instead, keeping his eyes forward. "No one on Home World heard of it before the war and yet now, we're capturing corrupted gems by the dozen."

"Sounds like an Earth problem." Ed snapped.

"Except that it didn't happen while Pink Diamond was here on earth." Roy replied, "Not until after the war began, in fact. The timing is a little too coincidental if you ask me."

"No one asked." Ed grumbled under his breath.

"I heard that." The Obsidian said, glancing over his shoulder with a heated look. "I have reason to believe that this corruption came from Home World –the Diamonds to be more specific. I don't know how they did it... but they found a way to inflict damage in a way we've never seen."

Ed rolled his eyes. "It can't be  _that_  bad-!"

He cut off in a choke when Roy led him into a room that housed thousands upon  _thousands_  of bubbled gems. Peridots and Rubies, Citrines and Flourites, and dozens of Quartz clusters –all trapped in various colored bubbles and floating against the ceilings.

"What have you-?!" Ed took a step back, stumbling at the sheer  _amount_  of gems that were currently imprisoned.

"We had no other choice." Roy said, looking back at the Amber. As he turned, Ed realized that he hadn't grabbed a light orb or any other simulated light. Roy himself was  _glowing_  with a power Ed had never seen. The leader cast a pale hand out towards the multitude of dormant gems. "These gems were in pain, unable to communicate and unable to survive in this world. We had to bubble them before they hurt themselves or someone else."

"I... I don't understand." Ed said, staring up with wide eyes. His knees were trembling, like he was destabilizing all over again, but that couldn't be –he hadn't taken enough damage yet.

" _These_  gems are corrupted." Roy said, looking back at the sight that had the Amber entranced. "We know how to heal the forms of gems, can mend the cracks of a gemstone, but this... we have  _no idea_  how to fix this."

Ed couldn't keep his eyes from roving over the gems, wondering if he knew any and if he could recognize them as this. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.

An Amber gemstone, bubbled and safely nestled in-between an Aquamarine and Gypsum. Sealed within its center was the skeleton of an insect, stinger outstretched mid-fight.

" _Alphonse!_ " Ed shouted, dashing forward. The Obsidian and Lapis let out twin yelps of shock and dove for him, but Ed slipped right under their hands and – _height being the final destination and acceleration of -9.81 m/s 2 and speed of 2.5 m/s, the needed force_ –with one giant leave, snatched his brother's bubble out of the trove. Before the two gems could stop him, Ed threw the bubble to the ground, breaking it and freeing his brother.

The Amber didn't know how long his brother had been trapped inside, but it must have been long enough for him to heal because as soon as the bubble popped, the gem inside began to glow. Ed took a few steps back to give his brother space to form. Behind him, Roy and Maes fell into fighting stances, throwing knives and stolen lance at the ready.

Ed ignored them.

His brother's gemstone flashed and a bright shape flowed out from it, forming hands and legs just like Ed remembered... but something went wrong.

The light bubbled and morphed, hands becoming thicker and foreign, body beefing up and erupting upwards with a flash of light. Ed covered his eyes as a force nearly sent him flying into the far wall.

Blinking to clear his vision, Ed called, "Al?"

Silence replied.

"Alphonse?" The Amber tried again, lowering his arms from their protective position in front of his eyes. A horrific sight greeted him.

Where his brother should have been, knelt a  _monster_. Twice the size of any Jasper, the behemoth was shrouded in the shadows. Bright red eyes gleamed in the near-dark of the tunnels.

" _Eh...war....._ " the sound the beast made was like that of the Bismuth smithies, metal grinding against metal and shrieking as it was rapidly heated and cooled.

"N-no..." Ed took a fearful step back. There was no way that thing could be he brother! "Alphonse? Where are you?"

" _Eh... **war**..._ ” the beast lunged forward, fast for its size. One thick hand latched itself onto the Amber's left ankle before the gem could react.

"Get  _off_!" Ed shouted, reaching down with his hands to push the monstrosity off. Another hand wrapped tight around his right wrist, preventing him from fighting or escaping. The Amber could distantly hear Roy Mustang ordering Maes to get more backup and call the healers.

Ed wrenched himself backwards, trying to either break the monster's hold or break his own form in order to be released, but then... Edward felt it.

He felt a tug deep inside of him, making him pause and look down at the monster's gleaming red eyes. The tug happened again, more insistent as if trying to get his attention.

Experimentally, Ed gave a tug back.

" _Fight it, Edward!_ " Roy shouted, sounding distant to the Amber's ears. " _Don't let him take you! **Fight it!**_ **"**

There was an echo of happiness at Ed's response, some primitive form of glee. The red gleaming eyes were brighter now, almost as if the pair of them had engulfed in a world of white.

The glee was... familiar in a way that Ed had only one word for.

"Alphonse?" he whispered, afraid to break their mystic trance.

There was another burst of joy and another tug.

Ed could see it, like a hand offering itself to him. The etheral hand of his brother lifted up, asking for help up after one of their fights. All Ed had to do was reach down and pull him up, pull him out of the monster. Ed just had to-!

" _EDWARD_!" Roy shouted as he plunged Ed's lance down into the monster. The creature let out a sound like grating metal and broke apart before his eyes. The force of the connection snapped and sent Ed tumbling to his knees, dazed. His brother's gemstone was tucked into a dark bubble before Ed even knew what happened.

"You  _idiot_!" Roy hissed, tossing the bubbled gem back up with the others. "Why didn't you  _fight_ it like _I told you!?_ "

"A-alphonse!" Ed gasped, lurching to his feet only to fall again as Roy knelt beside him. "That's-!"

"I don't know what you saw, Edward," Roy started, placing a restraining hand on Ed's left shoulder. "But you need to calm down before the corruption spreads!"

"C-Corruption?" Ed's mind was muddled, still cringing from the abrupt disconnect of Al and Ed's... of their  _souls._

Ed had _fused with his brother_.

" _Almost_  fused." Roy spat. "That Amber went after gems, one after another, to fuse with them and spread its corruption. We believe it’s the reason we have so many corrupted gems as it is."

"Spread?" Ed blinked his eyes slowly, feeling like his body was tied down by some oppressive force that prevented him from moving even an inch. Absently, he looked down at his right hand, as if to test that theory, when the sight of it stopped him cold.

Where his golden hand should have been was a steel atrocity. He jerked back, as if he could run from his own limb, and smashed himself into Roy's chest as a result.

"Wh-what-?!" he demanded wordlessly.

"The corruption." Roy answered, knowing what the Amber was going to ask, from past experience no doubt. "We... may be able to heal you. We've never caught someone before they were corrupted completely, but you... you held out longer than we expected. The corruption doesn't appear to be spreading too quickly like the others, but  _please_ , don't move until we get our healers in here!"

Feeling the tingles of fear deep in his gem, a mere ten inches from complete  _corruption_ , Ed let out the whine of a wounded animal and tried his best to remain as statue still as possibly until a couple Rose Quartz had made their way into the room.

As the gems fussed over him, Ed couldn't help a longing glance up at the dark orb that held his brother.

_Alphonse...why?_

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews: I don't want to hear "Good job!" or "Another chapter please!". If you want to say either of those, just drop a kudos. Only make a comment if you're giving constructive criticism, something that can make my writing or my world better.


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